What are your current picks of your 5 scariest scenes in c..

Glen said the following on 19/10/2007 01:20:
> With Halloween round the corner, what are your current picks of the 5
> or 6 scariest scenes (whatever your own definition of scary is) you've
> seen so far in cinema.

Four scenes from The Haunting 1963.

The solid oak door bending in front of cynic Luke (played by Russ
Tamblyn) who is frozen to the spot open mouthed and just drops the
bottle of alcohol. All this after the crashing thump sounds that closed
in on them.

The scene where Theo and Eleanor are sleeping in the same bed in the
same room for mutual protection, the moon lights up the leafed panel so
that we think we can see a face carved out in it by the pattern. Eleanor
then on the edge of sleep hears the menacing muffled sounds of an
embittered Hugh Crain giving what I can only assume to be an essay from
the family bible of his, to his very frightened child. In the rising
tones coming from the long dead Hugh Crain, Eleanor becomes more and
more indignant and angry at the terror meted out to the poor child,
telling herself that she is going to scream out to put a stop to the
cries of the child. The hand she is holding is starting to become
painful and, not being able to take any more pressure she finally
screams out "Stop hurting her!" and wakes up in a sweat. We then see
that in fact Eleanor is now sleeping on a couch across the room from
Theo who is woken with a dazed start. Eleanor now looks at her clawed
hand with a "Who's hand was I holding?"

The interesting and menacing plays on emotions from fear to bravery that
change almost in opposition line by line are great stuff. This happens
with Mr. Dudley as the gatekeeper with Eleanor as she arrives at the
house for the first time and wants to be let in, and then with Mrs.
Dudley (who looks like a POW camp survivor) who is going through her
timetable of events in the background as Eleanor and Theodore introduce
themselves to each other. Eleanor finds new bravery as she cuts into
Mrs. Dudley's routine but is then halted by the quiet menace in Mrs.
Dudley's reply which ends in a wry smile as she backs into the shadows.

John Carpenter's The Thing has some great moments in.

Apart from the above which was quite scary in some ways there is nothing
that has scared me at all, I mean truly scared me in film ever. Blood
and gore aren't what makes for being scared, just grossed out.